Adarq.org

t0ddday i think you misread vag slightly. when he says "bounce" he means the kind of effortless reactivity that comes to people like raptor described in his last post: people who are light with "good" structure for jumping. gerald green is the prototype. dominique wilkins, dr. j, michael jordan, that ridiculously tall kid from bahrain who's really good at high jump. i don't think vag would ever say that you can't improve jumping through practice, or that practicing jumping isn't the most important thing you can do to improve your jump, especially if you're not getting lots of little jumps in and around playing a sport.

obvious point about the combines is obvious, but worth repeating. they are not comparable.

also, very true about sport-specific skill translating as quickness: i'm pretty quick playing ultimate frisbee because i know how to play. but i plod playing basketball because my poor handles mean i'm not confident with the ball. same with soccer. that's not to say there's not an innate component to quickness, just that movement efficiency is a skill that can be learned and improved dramatically with purposeful practice, which i think was your point.

Few things...

First I really like what Toddday said, that's a very sound way to make sure you aren't wasting energy being inefficient. 

Second, thanks LBSS but I don't think I'm overly gifted at all.

me neither.  i was just trying to think who on here actually jumps high right now while not looking sluggish doing it. also, ian, gp about rutgersdunker, guess i hadn't watched his dunk/jump vids in a while. whatever, it was a sidebar anyway.

And lastly I don't think agility has a direct correlation to 'springiness' or 'bounce'. It can certainly help if you're naturally like that as it points to some positive structural/neural tendencies that with training would help your vert but I know lots of guys that can stop on a dime or change direction instantly that can't fly. Tony Parker comes to mind or the professor or hot sauce. My friend I'm training with as well, he changes directions in an instant but his vert is 10-12" lower than mine.

i'd agree with this

Maybe that bouncy look is what you get from doing it (jumping) all the time. Ex: most NBA guys appear bouncier than a NFL guy but a quick glance at combine numbers shows that the vert for skill position football players blows away a ton of NBA guys verts. The basketball guys just have a more esthetically pleasing jump. Just my observatiosns of course.

exactly. the point is that "springy" is just an aesthetic judgment about how someone looks when they jump. but it says something about how they get up. an nfl guy is likely to be much more powerful than an nba player because he has to be stronger and heavier to play his sport at that level than the nba guy does. but that's not to say there aren't some nfl guys who aren't springy or nba guys who aren't powerful. it probably has a lot to do with body structure and biomechanics. you can affect the latter to a point but you can't make your legs longer.

no it's not based on jump height, although springy people tend to jump higher. kingfish jumps 40" but looks slow as fuck, he's just very powerful. same for chris hickson when he was around. dreyth, but less so. some people are naturally springy and others aren't, a lot is based on genetic things like body structure, tendon length, and so on. people like you and me have a lower ceiling than people like, uh, actually most of the gifted two-leg jumpers on here are gone (taylorhorton, rip, rutgersdunker). chris m and matt a come to mind, i guess. but none of those guys has the springs that taylorhorton had, or certainly that rutgersdunker has. that dude is an animal.

but we can definitely improve movement efficiency, grace, speed, and power. no doubt about it. adarq went from touching rim to dunking off one leg, which is truly awesome and frankly a big part of why i'm still going at this.

will just make it that much more satisfying when we finally do throw down. 

this morning:

WEIGHT: ???
SORENESS: none
ACHES/INJURIES: left heel
MENTAL STATE: tired, lethargic, unfocused

- warm up

- a few jumps

this was awful. i slept badly the last two nights but forced myself to get up and go jump this morning because i won't be able to work out tonight or tomorrow. could not even get one full knuckle over off one step, so i bagged it. did some layups but even those were rough, and i couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with the fucking ball while i was shooting around. moved around, did some dribbling practice, focusing on my right hand, which i'm worse dribbling with even though i'm right-handed. poor. need to get good sleep the next two nights.

10 minute mile at 270 pounds isn't all THAT bad. i mean it's pretty bad but if you lost some weight you'd be faster (obviously).

WEIGHT: 173
SORENESS: none
ACHES/INJURIES: none
MENTAL STATE: good

- warm up

- SVJ x 6

- squat 295 x 1,1,1,1,1,1

- superset x 3
-- DB RDL 60s x 10
-- DB OHP 40s x 10; 35s x 10,10
-- pull down 100 x 10; 110 x 10; 120 x 10

- decline sit up 30 x 10

- stretch

funny, what i perceive as parallel or slightly below parallel turns out to be well below parallel on video.

Looking good^^^

You're still SO slow in your plants and moves and everything... you should start doing some more plyos and sprints and stuff like that when you think you've had enough with strength training.

Just cycle these things out.

agree.